One type of cell in present cellular radiotelephone communications systems typically inclues six directional antennas, centrally located in the cell, each radiating into a 60.degree. sector of the cell. Each sector antenna is connected to a base station, the cell's base stations being controlled by the base station controller (BSC). A plurality of these cells is combined to form a cellular radiotelephone communications system that is controlled by a mobile switching center (MSC). This cellular system, covering a geographical area, allows mobile traffic to communicate on public switched telephone networks (PSTN) while moving through the area.
The MSC is responsible for processing telephone calls from the PSTN to the cellular radiotelephone and vice versa. When a call is received from the PSTN, the MSC determines which base station should receive the call and switches the call to that base station, signalling the BSC with control information that a call is to be received. The base station handling the sector of the cell in which the cellular radiotelephone is located will be the base station that receives the call. This base station is determined by the control information.
The MSC must also route the calls coming from the radiotelephone to the PSTN or other radiotelephones. When a radiotelephone call is received, the MSC decides if it is to be routed to a base station if the call is to another radiotelephone or to the PSTN if the call is to a landline telephone.
The BSCs can be located miles from the MSC. This could result in a landline telephone user having to place a toll call to the MSC to reach a radiotelephone that is near the landline telephone user. Similarly, a call from a radiotelephone to a nearby landline user may be routed miles to the MSC to then be connected to the PSTN. There is a resulting need for a local PSTN connection to a cellular radiotelephone system allowing local telephone traffic for both calls from a radiotelephone to a landline telephone and from a landline telephone to a radiotelephone.